Over the last three decades, welfare policies have been informed by
popular beliefs that welfare fraud is rampant. As a result, welfare
policies have become more punitive and the boundaries between the
welfare system and the criminal justice system have blurred—so much so
that in some locales prosecution caseloads for welfare fraud exceed
welfare caseloads. In reality, some recipients manipulate the welfare
system for their own ends, others are gravely hurt by punitive policies,
and still others fall somewhere in between.

In Cheating Welfare,
Kaaryn S. Gustafson endeavors to clear up these gray areas by providing
insights into the history, social construction, and lived experience of
welfare. She shows why cheating is all but inevitable—not because poor
people are immoral, but because ordinary individuals navigating complex
systems of rules are likely to become entangled despite their best
efforts. Through an examination of the construction of the crime we know
as welfare fraud, which she bases on in-depth interviews with welfare
recipients in Northern California, Gustafson challenges readers to
question their assumptions about welfare policies, welfare recipients,
and crime control in the United States.

Austin Sarat (Amherst) describes the book as “[a] fascinating account of the welfare system seen from the perspective of welfare recipients.”
The introduction and TOC are available here.